series (LA Law). The syndrome of Gilles de la Tourette had apparently captured the imagination of Western television makers. My immediate reaction was: 'Hey ...
Book Reviews - Peter Boomgaard, Robert L. Winzeler, Latah in Southeast Asia; The history and ethnography of a culture-bound syndrome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xvi + 172 pp. [Publications of the Society for Psychological Anthropology 7.] - Ad Borsboom, H.C. Coombs, Aboriginal autonomy; Issues and strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xvi + 251 pp. - Ad Borsboom, Daniel de Coppet, Cosmos and society in Oceania. Oxford: Berg, 1995, 416 pp. [Explorations in Anthropology Series]., André Iteanu (eds.) - Raymond L. Bryant, P. Boomgaard, Forests and forestry 1823-1941. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute, 184 pp. [Changing Economy in Indonesia vol. 16]., R. de Bakker (eds.) - David Henley, Jan M. Pluvier, Historical atlas of South-east Asia. Leiden/New York/Köln: Brill, 1995, 83 + 64 pp. [Handbuch der Orientalistik, Dritter Abteilung (Südostasien), Achter Band]. - Victor T. King, Nico Schulte Nordholt, Social science in Southeast Asia; From particularism to universalism. Amsterdam: VU University Press (for the Centre for Asian Studies Amsterdam), 1995, 165 pp. [Comparative Asian Studies 17]., Leontine Visser (eds.) - Han Knapen, Bernard Sellato, Nomads of the Borneo rainforest; The economics, politics, and ideology of settling down. Translated by Stephanie Morgan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994, xxiii + 280 pp. - R.Z. Leirissa, David E.F. Henley, Nationalism and regionalism in a colonial context; Minahasa in the Dutch East Indies. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1996, xii + 186 pp. [Verhandelingen 168]. - K. Loven, Kees Epskamp, On printed matter and beyond; Media, orality and literacy. The Hague: Centre for the Study of Education in Developing Countries (CESO), 1995, 136 pp. [CESO Paperback 23]. - Niels Mulder, Andrée Feillard, Islam et armée dans lIndonésie contemporaine; Les pionniers de la tradition, Paris: Éditions lHarmattan, 1995, 379 pp. [Association Archipel, Cahier dArchipel 28]. - Tessel Pollmann, Cees Fasseur, Indischgasten. Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 1997, 313 pp. - Stuart Robson, P.J. Zoetmulder, Pantheism and monism in Javanese Suluk literature; Islamic and Indian mysticism in an Indonesian setting. Edited and translated by M.C. Ricklefs. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1995, xvii + 381 pp. [Translation Series 24]. In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 153 (1997), no: 2, Leiden, 284-308
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Book Reviews Robert L. Winzeler, Latah in Southeast Asia; The History and Ethnography of a Culture-Bound Syndrome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xvi + 172 pp. [Publications of the Society for Psychological Anthropology 7.] ISBN 0.521. 47219.9 (hardback). Price: £ 30.- (US$ 54.95). PETER BOOMGAARD Quite some time ago, before 'reality T V had flooded Dutch television, I happened to see a programme featuring a person (I no longer recall whether it was a man or a woman) with a so-called Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome. This person was being interviewed and responded quite normally to the questions posed, until all of a sudden he/she would start to shout obscenities and to make strange, compulsive, repetitive gestures. Not much later, such a person was portrayed in an episode of an American TV series (LA Law). The syndrome of Gilles de la Tourette had apparently captured the imagination of Western television makers. My immediate reaction was: 'Hey, I know this syndrome, this is latah, making its debut in the West!'. It was not until I read Winzeler's book that I discovered the true story of the link between latah and Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome. Winzeler opens his book with a definition of latah, taken from Steadman's Medical Dictionary: 'A nervous affection characterized by an exaggerated physical response to being startled or to unexpected suggestion, the subjects involuntarily uttering cries or executing movements in response to command or in imitation of what they hear or see in others'. Throughout his book, Winzeler refers to it as a 'hyperstartle' pattern. Latah was first described by European observers visiting the Malay world in the 1860s. It was regarded as what we would now call a culturebound syndrome, in keeping with the alleged nervousness of the Malays. Soon, however, reports came in from other parts of the world describing similar phenomena. These accounts inspired the Frenchman Gilles de la Tourette to publish an article on the syndrome that now bears his name (1884). Latah is therefore one of the 'pillars' upon which the Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome rests. In the West it remained an obscure and rare affliction, until it had a brief moment of glory upon being discovered by television. In Indonesia and Malaysia everyone knows what latah is. In his book, Winzeler, an anthropologist at the University of Nevada, charts the historiography of latah with emphasis on the 'Malay' world,
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and tries to explain what might be called the 'latah paradox'. In a nutshell, the paradox runs as follows: how can latah be a culture-bound syndrome, to be explained in terms of typical Malay cultural features, if very similar afflictions are encountered in so many other countries with totally different cultural backgrounds? Winzeler's approach is twofold. Firstly, he argues that very few of the reported cases actually represent 'true' or 'full' latah. In his opinion, full latah is found only in two broadly defined areas: in South-East Asia among 'Malay' peoples (and to some extent among adjacent and immigrant groups), and 'in an arc across far northern Asia from the Ainu of Japan through Siberia to (possibly) the Lapps.' (p. 131). Secondly, he analyses latah among the people of Malaysia and Indonesia. This analysis, largely based on his own fieldwork, takes up the remainder of the book. As many scholars have already studied latah, the analysis is also a constant debate with his predecessors. The author distinguishes three factors that may help to explain why 'true' latah is a fairly normal phenomenon in Malaysia and Indonesia. The first factor, he believes, is 'the prevailing familiarity with trance states' (possession, shamanism, spirit-mediumship). The second factor is 'a general preoccupation with startle'. Finally, 'there is the Malayan preference for limiting the overt expression of strong emotion - including anger and humor - to ritual contexts'. Latah, according to Winzeler, 'constitutes an acceptably ritualized form of behavior and interaction' (pp. 129-30). Given the fact that northern Asia also has well-developed traditions of trance and shamanism, the appearance there of a latah-\\ke affliction would be less paradoxical than it might appear at first sight. Winzeler's book is a well written and well documented monograph on a difficult topic, based on thorough research, carefully argued, and, on the whole, convincing. I have my doubts, though, about the author's tendency to play down the pathological features of latah, stressing that it is 'a part of normal social interaction' (p. 134). Finally, I find it a bit strange that the author, while complaining that there are so few monographs on culturebound syndromes (pp. 6-7), does not mention a fairly recent study on amok by Spores (John C. Spores, 1988, Running amok; An historical inquiry, Ohio University Monographs in International Studies Southeast Asia Series 82), the more so as many authors have postulated a connection between amok and latah.
H.C. Coombs, Aboriginal Autonomy; Issues and Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xvi + 251 pp. ISBN 0.521.44097.1. Price: US$ 49.95. ADBORSBOOM
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This book is, as the author indicates, a personal document. It is a selection of essays written for various occasions since 1978 and deals with issues central to the autonomy of Australian Aborigines. However, some of the chapters (1,14,15,16,17, and 18) have been written especially for this volume and address recent Aboriginal initiatives in the field of landrights, education and political organizations. Collectively, the essays consider 'the forms and significance of Aboriginal autonomy and especially its crucial role in contemporary Aboriginal identity' (p. xii). The author regards the concept of autonomy a key component of Aboriginal identity, the main theme of Chapter 1. The following chapters (2-13) describe aspects of the indigenous relationship with the land, the nature of the Aboriginal social world, the use of resources and the significance of Aboriginal political organisation and law. Chapters 14-16 deal with recent Aboriginal initiatives to maintain autonomy and control in important areas of their identity. Of the essays written for this volume it is in Chapter 17 especially that issues of Aboriginal autonomy are located within the current debate and negotiations following the High Court's decision of 1992 that Australia was not terra nullius when occupied by the Europeans (the so called Mabo judgement, named after the Aborigine who brought the question of terra nullius before the Australian courts). In his conclusion Coombs presents his view of future developments in relation to the central questions of Aboriginal autonomy and identity within the Australian Nation State. Dr. H.C. 'Nugget' Coombs has had a distinguished career of public service, and is now Visiting Fellow of North Australian Research Unit at the Australian National University and of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies. His essays reflect both this long career in the field of Aboriginal policy making and his academic involvement in Aboriginal studies. They are a fine blend of academic (mainly anthropological) writing and a passionate political plea for a just society in which there must be room for autonomy for the indigenous population. His book provides not only a good insights into the many aspects of current Aboriginal issues, but also presents a personal view of how this process of reconciliation between black and white Australia should develop. Regarding the latter, Coombs is convinced that this process must lead to an Act of SelfDetermination 'in a form recognised by the United Nations and be binding on future Australian Commonwealth and State Governments' (p. 227).
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Daniel de Coppet and Andre Iteanu (eds), .Cosmos and Society in Oceania. Oxford: Berg, 1995, 416 pp. [Explorations in Anthropology series]. ISBN 1.85973.042.6. Price: £ 16.95. ADBORSBOOM The different contributions gathered in this book were all originally offered as papers at a conference held in France 1990 on the theme Society and Cosmos: their interrelations or their coalescence in Oceania. As the editors explain in their introduction, the essays question the validity of the Western distinction between society and cosmos, a distinction often projected onto Pacific societies. The global order analysed in the various contributions also distinguishes different domains, but in no case does this distinction resemble the Western division between society and cosmos. There are ten contributions in this volume and most of them present rich material from various parts of Oceania, together with thorough analysis and stimulating theoretical perspectives. I particularly enjoyed reading the contributions of Gell, Munn, Iteanu, and Weiner. What makes reviewing volumes like this such an unsatisfactory undertaking is the diversity of the ethnographic material presented, which is balanced by the diversity of the various theoretical positions. In their introductions, the editors try to take the wind out of the reviewer's sails by first acknowledging this diversity and then making some - in my view meagre - efforts to justify this collection on the basis of a common theme. However this theme - the recognition that in the Pacific society and cosmos are not distinguished - is of such a general nature that it hardly qualifies as the binding factor within and between the ten chapters of this volume. There are two ways by which this shortcoming could perhaps have been overcome. Firstly, the editors could have asked the individual contributors to address more explicitly the two major questions raised right at the beginning of the introduction. Do Pacific societies, like our societies, distinguish society from cosmos? And if not, what are the forms and social consequences of this partial or total 'non-distinction' (p. 1)? A more systematic approach along these lines would have contributed considerably to more coherence in the volume. It would also have indicated an effort to fill what the editors themselves regard as a gap in existing knowledge, namely that the 'relation between society and cosmos has never been investigated systematically, and only partial appraisals of this relation have been attempted' (p. 3). Secondly, the volume would have benefitted from a concluding chapter in which the editors discussed these central questions against the back-
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ground of the contributions presented and suggested some further theoretical considerations and lines of research. Despite this criticism, which applies to a great many volumes resulting from conferences, the individual contributions are, I should repeat, very worthwhile reading, rich in ethnographic material and expressing diverse and original theoretical positions.
P. Boomgaard and R. de Bakker, Forests and Forestry 18231941. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute, 184 pp. [Changing Economy in Indonesia vol. 16]. ISBN 90.6832.656.2. Price:
RAYMOND L.BRYANT This book forms part of the ambitious sixteen-volume series Changing Economy in Indonesia: a selection of statistical source material from the early 19th Century up to 1940, and provides a useful wealth of hitherto difficult-to-access data on forests and forestry in colonial times in Indonesia. It will be of interest primarily to those interested in colonial forest history, but also, given the traditional importance of forestry in the rural sector, to those keen to understand rural development more generally under Dutch rule. Forests and Forestry 1823-1941 is divided into two parts. Part 1 is taken up with an introductory essay that offers a brief overview or historiography of the subject, encompassing themes such as forest exports, forestry management, the development of forest lands, wood production, forest hazards, and trade statistics. In the remainder of the volume, Part 2, the statistical data is presented in tabular form according to these themes; the data are accompanied by brief 'technical commentaries' that explain the material in the tables and which also highlight deficiencies in the data. It is not possible in a short review to do justice to the diversity of material brought together by the authors in this valuable volume. Let me touch on only two striking features of Forests and Forestry 1823-1941. First, the book provides data on forests and forestry in the Outer Provinces, thereby moving beyond the traditional focus on Java in forestry accounts (see, for instance, N.L. Peluso's Rich forests, poor people). In the process, it sheds additional (albeit sketchy) light on the forest sector in these yet poorly understood 'peripheral' regions of Indonesia. Second, Forests and Forestry 1823-1941 pays attention to the role and significance of selected non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in the colonial forest economy, providing a welcome move beyond the 'teak-centric' focus of many accounts. Thus, data are provided on such NTFPs as rattan, benzoin, damar, wax, and bird's nests (edible). This material serves as a useful reminder of
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the multi-faceted nature of human exploitation of Indonesia's forests in colonial times - a point often obscured in the quest to specify past and present use of teak and other 'key' commercial forest species. The introductory essay provides a sufficient overview of the colonial forest context in Indonesia, although the reader may have benefited from a more extended analytical treatment of what is, after all, an incredibly rich and complex subject area. Forests and Forestry 1823-194] is nonetheless a welcome addition to the literature. Scholars working in this area are indebted to P. Boomgaard and R. de Bakker for producing a useful reference work the analytical potential of which has scarcely begun to be realized.
Jan M. Pluvier, Historical Atlas of South-East Asia. Leiden/ New York/Koln: Brill, 1995, 83 + 64 pp. [Handbuch der Orientalistik, Dritter Abteilung (Siidostasien), Achter Band]. ISBN 90.04. 10238.8. Price:/264,50. DAVID HENLEY An historical atlas is always a welcome complement to conventional history texts, most of which still tend to be deficient both in good maps and in understanding of the need for them. In Southeast Asia, with its complex geography, shifting capital cities and changing place names, that need is particularly strong and this new atlas by Jan Pluvier therefore fills an important and rather surprising gap in the historical literature on the region. Pluvier's atlas comprises some 100 coloured maps on 64 consecutive pages, preceded by 83 consecutive pages of accompanying monochrome text. The layout of the cartographic pages is practical and sometimes ingenious, making good use of colour (albeit without the benefit of incremental shading) and of insets. The most frequently recurring format includes the whole of Southeast Asia on a vertical single page, avoiding wasted space at the top right by the simple expedient of extending eastward only as far as the Moluccas and omitting the whole of New Guinea. At the opposite end of the scale is one page which shows only the antiquities of ancient Cambodia, together with an inset plan of the Angkor group of monuments alone. Sometimes cartographic 'snapshots' of the same area at successive points in time are juxtaposed, as in the case of a very useful double page spread comprising four maps of Java showing the political situation in the sixteenth, early seventeenth, late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries respectively. Other pages, by contrast, consist of several small maps illustrating events occuring at the same period in
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different parts of the region - for instance, Dutch intervention in South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, and Bali in the late nineteenth century. In quantitative terms there is a fairly even balance beween coverage of mainland and island Southeast Asia, and also between historical periods. The inevitable spree of 'colonial expansion' maps has not been allowed to reach excessive proportions, and the pre-European and post-colonial periods both receive decent coverage. Two of the most intriguing maps, for instance, illustrate the Mongol-Chinese expeditions to Vietnam and Java in the thirteenth century and the wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, and East Timor since 1975. Other unexpected but useful inclusions are a detailed map of the Chinese gold mining kongsi of West Kalimantan in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and a handy overview of colonial administrative divisions throughout the region around 1930. The map entitled 'Java in the 19th century' is a reminder that cartography can put even apparently familiar historical situations in a new light. In it the division of southern Central and East Java between Surakarta and Yogyakarta, though already simplified for clarity, is revealed as a crazy patchwork rather than the neat partition for which it is sometimes taken. Both states have many enclaves within the other's territory, and in fact although Surakarta lies east of Yogyakarta, the westernmost royal possession (Banyumas) nevertheless belongs to the former and the easternmost (Japan) to the latter. Paradoxically, it takes such a territorial representation to bring home the radically non-territorial character of traditional Southeast Asian polities. The text section of the atlas consists of nothing less than a history of Southeast Asia, compressed into 45 pages and designed, in the author's words, to provide 'a brief background to the maps', together with two indexes, one of geographical and one of personal names, and a list of general literature on Southeast Asia and each of its constituent countries. The literature list features material in all relevant European languages, including Dutch and Portuguese, and is particularly strong on bibliographic works. The potted history features numerous lists of rulers and governors and their periods in power, which some will no doubt find pedantic but which definitely enhance the value of the book as a reference tool. The inclusion and format of these lists suggest that the ancestry of the atlas stretches back to the modest but practical Handbook and Chart of SouthEast Asian History published by the same author as long ago as 1967. If the historical atlas is a useful genre, it is also a notoriously difficult one in which to excel, and Pluvier's atlas suffers from some familiar shortcomings. The complete separation of maps and text, for instance, circumvents technical problems and no doubt reduces production costs, but inevitably it also makes an atlas slow and awkward to use. In this case, moreover, the awkwardness is compounded by the fact that there is no simple one-to-one correspondence between the maps and the numbered divisions in the text. The latter follow a logic of their own, a single division often referring to
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more than one map and vice versa. In fact although the subheadings in the text contain explicit references to the maps, the maps contain no reference whatsoever to the text, sothat working from map to text, which is what readers will probably want to do most often in practice, is particularly laborious. This poor integration of maps and text is one reason why Pluvier sometimes fails to supply the kind of straightforward empirical clarity which might be expected of a historical atlas. The political geography of Java during the East Javanese period, from Airlangga's kingdom to Majapahit, provides a case in point. Page 6 of the map section shows (among other things) the '[gjreatest extent of [the] Javanese [kingdom] of Airlangga 1019-1049' and the subsequent division of East Java between the kingdoms of Janggala and Panjalu according to a 'Partition-line 1049'. According to the text, however, Airlangga ruled only until 1042 and it was in that year that the two daughter states emerged 'as the result of a partition of the realm by Airlangga shortly before his abdication' (p. 15); the year 1049 is not mentioned at all. The confusion does not end there. The same map clearly shows Daha (a toponym not mentioned in the text until p. 19), as located on the Janggala side of the partition line, yet both the text and later maps (pp. 8, 10) equate Daha with Kediri and Kediri with Panjalu. Also unclear is the relationship between Janggala and Kahuripan. The latter is described in the text (p. 15) as a place (Airlangga 'established his residence at Kahuripan in the Brantas delta') but shown on p. 8 of the map section as a region synonymous with Janggala ('[J]anggala = Kahuripan') and on another map (p. 10) as a region not identical with Janggala (for which there is a separate legend). Finally, the place Ganter, mentioned in the text (p. 15) as the site of an important battle in 1222, is not shown on any of the relevant maps, which nevertheless do include a sometimes distracting number of toponyms not mentioned in the text. No doubt such anomalies will seem trivial and explicable enough to readers already familiar with the topic in question, and no doubt they have to do partly with genuine uncertainty in the literature regarding the details of an obscure period. Most readers, however, are likely to be using a historical atlas precisely because they lack this kind of background knowledge, and for them any inconsistencies will simply be sources of confusion and frustration, the more so since Pluvier does not indicate on each map the precise sources from which it was compiled. A reference publication should aim for clarity and simplicity as well as comprehensiveness, and complex or uncertain situations need to be dealt with by means other than unexplained inconsistencies in the maps or between maps and text. It is hard to believe that better editing and more attention to detail could not have improved things here even without revision of the general format. Also indicative of incomplete editing are the typographical or spelling errors still visible here and there on the maps (the title of one map on p. 30, for instance, includes the word 'EUROPIAN' in large
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capitals) and the use of the old pre-1972 Indonesian spelling for the place names on some maps (but not on others!). Such inelegant finishing makes a strange impression given the painstaking work which must have gone into compiling all the information presented. As Pluvier acknowledges in his introduction, the maps and text deal mainly with 'the emergence, decline and downfall of states and empires, territorial changes, border conflicts, expeditions, wars and so on' (p. 7). In other words, the stuff of this atlas is traditional 'kings and battles' history. 'Cultural, economic and social data and developments', Pluvier admits, 'are mentioned only in passing', and to this list of omissions could equally be added information on ecology and the environment; there are, for instance, no maps showing land use or deforestation. In fact, only six maps in the whole book are significantly concerned with nonpolitical aspects of society and history, and unfortunately several of these are of such doubtful quality that it would almost have been better if Pluvier had restricted himself exclusively to kings and battles. The ethnogeographic map in particular (p. 50) is so superficial as to be worse than useless as far as some parts of Indonesia are concerned, suggesting for instance that the Ambonese are not Moluccans and that in Sulawesi the 'Tominis' are a more significant ethnic group than, say, the Mandar. Even more misleading, however, is the map showing prehistoric and historic migrations (p. 2). With its 'Veddalid', 'Melanid' and 'Mongolid' (all sic) races, and its 'Austronesian, Malay' migrants sweeping into Indonesia from the Malay Peninsula rather than from Taiwan and the Philippines, this is based on thoroughly outdated theories and represents scientific history rather than the real state of our knowledge in 1995. The corresponding section in the text, besides underlining the dated character of the materials from which it is derived, illustrates another anachronistic feature also evident elsewhere in Pluvier's historiography: a tendency to incorporate casual value judgements into his acccount. The earliest inhabitants of the region were of Melanesian stock. They were nomads, fishermen and hunters, and also cannibals. Some small remnants, living in primitive circumstances, are referred to today as Negritos: Aeta in the Philippines, Semang in Malaya. Others are related to the Veddas of Ceylon: Senoi in Malaya, Sakai and Kubus in Sumatra, (p. 7.) At another point we learn that Khmer civilization in the in the late thirteenth century 'was still of a high standard, although it focused increasingly on scholarship and learning' (p. 16). The same judgemental tendency resurfaces in Pluvier's moralistic account of the economic effects of colonialism (pp. 44-45), in which Southeast Asia is portrayed as 'the most vivid example of what may be referred to as colonialism by exploitation'. Colonial taxation, combined with 'the introduction of a capitalist
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economy' with its 'sudden and unpredictable fluctuations' into 'the traditional sphere of pre-capitalist societies', resulted in poverty, debt, and landlessness among the peasantry, and 'in none of the colonies was a programme of large-scale industrialization embarked upon that might have led to a more evenly balanced economic structure'. Nothing is said about comparative levels of pre-colonial trade and taxation, about the often disastrous fluctuations which characterised the yields of subsistence agriculture, about independent Thailand's equal failure to industrialize, or indeed about an obvious alternative explanation for rural impoverishment: rapid population growth, the causes of which included colonial medicine, peace and order, and improved transport and marketing networks. While lack of space has obviously been a limitation here, it cannot entirely excuse such an unbalanced analysis. Considering that one of the main potential uses of this atlas is as a study aid, it is unfortunate that the high price of the existing hardback edition will put it out of reach of all but the wealthiest or most dedicated students. If a cheaper paperback version were available it might generate a far larger market. Also unfortunate for the commercial prospects of the atlas is the fact that as far as Indonesia is concerned it will shortly face competition from a new atlas of Indonesian history currently under preparation by Robert Cribb. This will offer more material on economic history and the natural environment than Pluvier's, incorporate the results of more recent research on the earliest periods, and feature a handier integrated format with maps and text on the same page. The Pluvier atlas, of course, will still have the advantage of covering mainland Southeast Asia and the Philippines as well as Indonesia. It would in any case be wrong not to recommend this book, even to Indonesianists, on the basis of a future competitor which has not yet been accepted for publication. Despite its shortcomings, Pluvier's Historical atlas of SouthEast Asia is an interesting and attractive book which brings together a vast amount of useful information and will enhance any personal library or reference collection.
Nico Schulte Nordholt and Leontine Visser (eds), Social Science in Southeast Asia; From Particularism to Universalism. Amsterdam: VU University Press (for the Centre for Asian Studies Amsterdam), 1995, 165 pp. [Comparative Asian Studies 17]. ISBN 90.5383.427.3. Price: /27.50. VICTOR T. KING
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This volume, in the Amsterdam Comparative Asian Studies series, examines an issue of crucial professional and ethical importance in the social sciences. With regard to Southeast Asia the relationship between the role and practice of the social sciences and the demands and interests of the national governments in their planning for socio-economic development has not been the subject of much open scholarly debate in recent years. Yet the problem of one's position in relation to governments and funding bodies, to the human subjects of one's research, and the code of ethics of one's academic discipline are constantly in the minds of social scientists. For Southeast Asia the discussions in the past have been especially concerned with the perspectives and effects of Western social sciences in the study of Southeast Asian societies and cultures - in such matters as the role of anthropology in colonial administration, the modes of construction of sociological knowledge in the context of Western neo-colonialism, the dominance of American social science in research on Philippine, Indonesian, Thai, and Indochinese societies, and the relationships between Western-derived modernization theory, development processes and the problems of underdevelopment. What has not been so much in evidence is the encouragement of debates between local social scientists and Western practitioners, particularly about indigenous social science, its current position with regard to national planning for development, and its future prospects. It was in order to promote discussion along these lines that a seminar was held at the Centre for Asian Studies Amsterdam (CASA) in November 1993 to bring together Western and Southeast Asian social scientists and specifically to mark the retirement of Professor Sediono M.P. Tjondronegoro from the Agricultural University at Bogor and acknowledge his contribution to applied studies. The volume is organized around a keynote address by Ignas Kleden, a social philosopher and former editor of the Indonesian journal Prisma, in which he argues, for Indonesia in particular, that during the last three decades social scientists have increasingly become instruments of the state in its concern to promote national goals of development and economic growth. Kleden's paper has a number of shortcomings, and many of the contributors take issue with certain of his remarks. George J. Aditjondro's response is an especially incisive critical commentary. Although we can accept that recently the demands of governments, and not only in Indonesia, have worked to control and set the agenda for social scientific enquiry, Kleden's tendency to lump together the various branches of the social sciences leads to simplistic and sometimes rather vague and general statements about state-social science relations. His emphasis on 'what social scientists do' in his definition of the social science enterprise is also plainly inadequate, and his distinction between social activists/workers and social scientists seems curious indeed. Of particular value in the collection are the personal reflections, reminiscences and views of indigenous scholars - Aditjondro, Taufik Albdullah,
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Tjondronegoro, and Din Syamsuddin. Cynthia Banzon Bautista's comparison of Indonesian and Philippine social science research and the state is especially worthwhile; Shamsul Amri Baharuddin has some insightful remarks to make about what he calls the 'kratonization' of the social sciences in Malaysia - specifically their increasing compartmentalization and professionalization, the narrowing of perspective and scope, and the emerging division between policy-oriented and academic social science. Of the Western contributions to the volume, the editors skilfully extract the salient points of the various papers. Willem Wolters presents a succinct overview of Philippine social science and its relevance for development, and Otto van den Muijzenberg addresses, among other things, Shamsul's concept of 'kratonization' and the political dimensions of social science activity. Overall this is a valuable volume dealing with a topical issue. But I would have liked more attention to have been paid to the differences between the various branches of the social sciences and their relations with government, and between the position of the social sciences in the various Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore. It would also have helped to have addressed specific issues arising from the practical involvement of social scientists in the planning, implementation and evaluation of development programmes as well as broader aspects of national development planning and state ideology.
Bernard Sellato, Nomads of the Borneo Rainforest; The Economics, Politics, and Ideology of Settling Down. Translated by Stephanie Morgan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994, xxiii + 280 pp. ISBN 0.8248.1566.1. Price $ 35.-. ;.
HANKNAPEN
Although a growing number of works is now improving our hitherto scanty knowledge of the nomads of Borneo, few have attempted to bring the existing ethnographic data together and analyse the major historical processes which it reveals. This book by Sellato is therefore a welcome and much needed contribution to ethnographic knowledge and to our understanding of the history of the island's most isolated groups, the traditionally nomadic hunter-gatherers collectively called Punan. It is also a courageous endeavour when one considers that these 'people without history', to use Eric Wolf's famous phrase, 'show no great interest in their own history' and in fact 'sometimes have trouble remembering the names of their own grandparents' (pp. 208-9). Besides Punan oral histories, Sellato therefore had to fall back on the oral traditions of other ethnic groups, often neighbouring farmers. A wide range of published sources
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was also used to supplement the fieldwork data but these had their own limitations, supplying little more than meagre scraps of information. Even today no complete inventory of the remaining Punan exists, and what we do know is heavily biased towards those groups living in Sarawak. Add the fact that the Punan are now rapidly vanishing and the reader readily understands the problems Sellato had to face in collecting his material. Behind this major work lies a research period of more than twenty years, much of it spent in the centre of Borneo. The translation of the original French edition {Nomades et sedentarisation a Borneo; histoire economique et sociale, Paris: Editions de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1989) fortunately makes it available for a wider public. The first part of the book is devoted to two case studies in which the histories of the Bukat and Kereho Busang between 1800 and the 1980s are reconstructed. Although both groups are strikingly small nowadays (only about 600 Bukat and 300 Kereho Busang are left), they were more numerous in the past. Detailed maps allow the interested reader to follow two centuries of migrations of the Bukat and Kereho, many of these movements directed from the centre of the island to downriver locations during a process of increasing external contacts. These two case studies act as illustrations for the second part of the book. In Part Two, now turning his attention to the whole island, Sellato begins by outlining what the original Punan culture must have looked like. The traditional subsistence economy of the Punan, based primarily on extracting sago and hunting, is given full attention. An important point Sellato makes is that the Punan were perfectly capable of living independently in their primary rainforest environment, without the need for trade goods like metal, salt, tobacco, or imported food. Next, concepts of territory, various aspects of social organization, and rituals and religion are discussed. Concluding, Sellato argues that a common and autonomous Punan culture does exist: there is much more resemblance between the different Punan groups than between a Punan group and its neighbouring farmers. Particularly striking is the secular, pragmatic, open and versatile character of Punan societies, which even today gives the (former) nomads a common feeling of 'Punan-ness'. The rest of the book deals with the processes of cultural change. About two centuries ago the Punan began to adopt new elements of technology such as iron and dogs, which they procured from neighbouring farmers. The time they saved by using these new technologies was spent collecting forest products for trade. Gradually trade intensified and the nomads' dependence on the farmers increased, largely to the benefit of the latter. To safeguard the supply of forest products, the farmers subsequently motivated the nomads to settle in hamlets, where a mixed subsistence economy developed, including horticulture (in particular cassava and banana cultivation). Finally, rice growing took over as the dominant means of subsistence. At the same time a wide array of social transformations took
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place: new residence and marriage patterns developed, concepts of territory and private property became more clearly defined, and there was a tendency towards social inequality. A large part of the culture of the existing farming groups, however, was unacceptable to the Punan, in particular the clear stratification present among many of them. The settled nomads preserved as much as possible their own ideology of egalitarianism, autonomy, mobility, and economic flexibility, which still differentiates them from the neighbours. Strangely, one question in relation to the process of sedentarization is hardly touched upon. Why did the Punan not adopt the new items of technology at a much earlier stage? As the examples chosen by Sellato show, the nomads themselves were initially eager to trade since it saved them considerable amounts of time and energy, particularly by enabling them to fell sago palms with iron tools and hunt with dogs. How is it possible that during the eighteenth century these highly opportunistic and pragmatic people were working with stone tools, while a few days or weeks' travel downriver the iron which could make life much easier was readily available? Was this a matter of ignorance, or a deliberate choice to stay independent from outside contacts and domination? Since iron has been known on Borneo for at least a millenium, one would expect the first steps toward sedentarization to have been taken much earlier than the midor late nineteenth century, which is where Sellato places them for the Bukat and Kereho respectively. It may very well be that triggers of sedentarization are to be found outside the immediate sphere of the nomads, in particular in the effects of colonial expansion. Although Sellato claims that 'the details of colonial history are of no particular interest' (p. 10), this ignores the fact that there was more to colonialism than mere territorial control. It influenced, for instance, the settlement patterns of farming groups, which in turn affected the nomads. It introduced new medicines to combat epidemic disease, and the resulting health improvements facilitated sedentarization. And colonialism also had a strong impact on the market in forest products, on which the Punan came to depend. This is an excellent study which contains a wealth of data for historically minded Borneo scholars, including those whose main interest is in farming groups, and also for scholars studying processes of nomad sedentarization elsewhere in the world. Some readers may find it a little disappointing that the most recent developments affecting the Bornean nomads, such as commercial logging, changing health conditions and forced government settlement, receive only meagre attention. On the other hand it is important to note that Sellato does not restrict himself to the nomads, but goes on to propose a (still speculative) theory encompassing the whole island. According to this theory, an independent traditional culture of horticulturalists (labelled the Barito Complex) extended over large parts of Borneo in the past and predated the culture complex of stratified farmers. Unstratified rice farming groups such as the Iban, Sellato
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believes, may have developed out of this horticultural complex. Most importantly, however, with this book a major work has for the first time been devoted to reconstructing the lost histories of the most isolated groups of Borneo.
David E.F. Henley, Nationalism and Regionalism in a Colonial Context; Minahasa in the Dutch East Indies. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1996, xii + 186 pp. [Verhandelingen 168]. ISBN 90.6718. 080.7. P r i c e : / 4 5 . - . R.Z. LEIRISSA This book presents a wholly different approach to the problem of nationalism and regionalism, themes which have been taken for granted as the most important aspect of the history of Indonesia. This orthodoxy, which has its origin in the work of Blumberger (1931), gives an account of the development of the idea of Indonesia propagated by the main political organizations such as PNI, Parindra, and Partindo, the majority of the members of which were Javanese. 'Less well known', David Henley has correctly seen, 'is the extent to which the organizations expressing local identities, interests, and causes were the most successful mobilizers' (p. 3). Minahasa is used.in this study te prove the point. The concept of 'imagined community' (Anderson 1983) or 'perceived community' (Henley's own preferred term) is applied to Minahasa as an ethnie. The introductory part of the book is an attempt to develop this concept into five, mostly overlapping, models. Since the geographical aspect is basic to an analysis of a 'perceived community', the development of 'Minahasa as a territorial unit' forms the theme of the second chapter. The treaty of January 10, 1679 between the tribal leaders of Minahasa and the VOC legalized the intervention of the VOC in the tribal wars, thereby protecting the Minahasans from their stronger neighbours. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the boundaries of present-day Minahasa were moulded on the basis of treaties between the VOC and the kingdoms of Bolaang in the west and Ternate in the east; the sea became the natural border with the islands of what is now known as Sangir-Talaud. The Protestant mission (Nederlandsch Zendelinggenootschap) was the main causal factor in developing Minahasa as a perceived community. The NZG started its work in Minahasa in 1831, represented by such strong figures as J.F. Riedel in the Tondano area and J.G. Schwarz among the Tontemboan-speaking people of Langoan. Although in 1847 only about 11.000 converts had been made out of some 93.000 inhabitants, by 1880 more then three quarters of the population had been baptised.
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The most important means by which missionary activities moulded a common identity among converts was the mission school system, which incorporated many aspects of indigenous culture into its religious teachings. An ancestral myth originally found only among the four main tribes, the story of To'ar and Lumimu'ut, was 'Christianized' and spread to the other tribes in Minahasa, helping them to accept that they too shared a common origin. School maps picturing Minahasa as a territorial unit also strengthened this image. By using the Malay language everywhere in Minahasa instead of upholding the six or seven tribal languages, the school system ensured that Malay became an important means of communication throughout the area. A newspaper published by the mission, Tjahaja Slang, became not only a medium for the maintenance of Malay among local teachers and ex-students, but also a vehicle for moulding a common view on local culture and social issues. Another by-product of the school system was a consciousness of social hierarchy: 'perceptions of inequality between Minahasans and foreigners helped define the Minahasa community' (p. 67). The colonial society also placed limitations to the assimilation of the indigenous element with the foreign (Dutch), although most of the inhabitants accepted what Henley calls a 'mestizo' culture which developed originally among the urban population of the city of Manado. In the process Minahasa became the most 'Westernized' region in the Dutch East Indies. It is thus not surprising that some of its inhabitants tried their luck in various occupational fields outside their homeland, especially in Java. Soldiering in particular was appealing to young Minahasans. It was among the Minahasan soldiers in Java that the first modern Minahasan organization emerged (Perserikatan Minahasa, established by non-commissioned officers in the military town of Magelang in 1909). Until 1927 the leadership of this organization was in the hand of civilians such as A.L. Waworuntu, a former district head (hukum besar) and G.S.S.J. Ratulangi, an intellectual who later received a doctorate in physics. Perceptions of inequality among the soldiers were the reason for the establishment of the organization. The problem of inequality also became its demise and in its place came Ratulangi's Persatuan Minahasa, which was more politically inclined. Politically the Minahasans were loyalist. It was in Minahasa that the government established the first regional representative body (Minahasaraad, Minahasa Council) in 1919. Elections were held directly every four years and every adult male Minahasan with an income of 300 guilders or more was eligible to vote. The elected Minahasan councillors were supplemented by a number of appointed members representing the European and 'Foreign Oriental' elements in the population. Sooner or later the Minahasans, especially those living outside their homeland, had to face the fact that they were also a part of a wider development encompassing the Netherlands East Indies as a whole. The political
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propaganda for a free Indonesia was another problem to which the Minahasans had to find their own answer. Given the unique configuration of Minahasa as a 'perceived community' in the colonial context, it is understandable that the main concept developed during the first part of the twentieth century to address those political issues was 'autonomy'. Ratulangi and Persatuan Minahasa became the main spokesmen of this ideal. This study by Henley has opened up a new perspective for the study of Indonesian history. Similar developments must have taken place among other regional organizations or ethnies. In the concluding part of the book Henley mentions the possibility that the Batak in Sumatra and the Sundanese in West Java might provide parallel cases. The Ambonese, however, were different due to their clear internal division between Christians and Muslims. Further studies in this line might bring more understanding of one of the most important periods in the history of Indonesia.
Kees Epskamp, On Printed Matter and Beyond; Media, Orality and Literacy. The Hague: Centre for the Study of Education in Developing Countries (CESO), 1995, 136 pp. [CESO paperback 23]. ISBN 90.6443.210.4. K. LOVEN Even in the media-saturated world in which we live, storytelling remains an important means of communicating knowledge. Kees Epskamp's collection concentrates on narrative art (both mediated and unmediated) in different societies. As a consequence of the author's eclectic approach and his inconsistent definition of the keyword 'media' - at one point both television and storytelling are referred to as media (p. 114) - the essays in the book are only loosely related to one another. This should not, however, prevent those interested in storytelling and the media from reading it. If one judges each chapter on its own intrinsic merits one will come across some interesting observations, even if some chapters, such as the one in which comic books and photo novels are compared (pp. 29-42), are more successful in presenting a coherent and attractive account than others. The book is worth reading mainly because it offers an interesting impression of' the ambiguous status of the media in development policies. The media are often blamed for contributing to the decline of literacy (which is a vital issue for educators all over the world), but paradoxically have also proven their merits as educational tools. Incontrovertibly, it is also at least in part owing to the media that some oral traditions which were once on the point of disappearing have survived after all - although whether such a development is always to the benefit of the society concerned, as the author
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rightly acknowledges, is a different matter. The collection looks at diverse subjects, ranging from comic books in China and animal stories in Africa to soap operas in Mexico and Brazil and the connection between the written and the spoken word in Indonesia. Most of the essays translate findings on the use of the media in a particular area into policies to be elaborated in more detail by the local authorities. In my view, it is a pity that some promising topics are not explored in more depth. In Chapter Three, for example, an interesting section on African animal stories is cut short and immediately followed by an exposition on Brazilian cordel literature (a form of declamation). The connection between these two sections is unclear and gives the impression that the author tried to fit too much information into too little space. Generally speaking, all of the essays tend to be rather superficial owing to space limitations (approximately ten pages per chapter). Such brevity need not be problematic as long as the conclusions drawn are based on substantial arguments, but unfortunately this is not always the case, particularly in the case study on the mass media in Indonesia. The author is certainly correct in pointing out the value of the spoken over the written word in Indonesian religious, political, and educational life, but when he proceeds to ascribe a 'post-oral consciousness' (p. 88) to the modern Indonesian author he is on less firm ground. The use of the term 'post-oral' suggests that Indonesian literature has left an 'oral stage' behind it and proceeded to a 'literate stage' - in other words, that orality and literacy are mutually exclusive phenomena. Particularly with respect to Indonesia, where a flourishing oral literature has always existed and still exists alongside a written literature which was in fact never deeply pervasive, it is questionable whether such a remark adequately reflects the situation. A minor flaw in the author's short account on film and television in Indonesia is the fact that only the first Indonesian commercial television station (RCTI) is mentioned, while newer stations (TPI, SCTV, ANTeve, Indosiar) are omitted. In the epilogue, the author states that 'entertainment is most often one-way communication and hardly interactive' (p. 114). Yet entertainment could be argued to have everything to do with interaction between performer and public, and indeed the author himself has already acknowledged this in the preceding chapters. 'A performance', he notes on p. 45, 'is considered to be especially successful if the story-teller interacts with his audience'. Finally some policy recommendations are given regarding education and the media. In order to prepare children for a future in a media-filled environment, Epskamp argues, educational systems urgently need to provide training in visual literacy (how to 'read' visual messages, for instance on television and in advertisements). This is particularly the case in societies in which reading a book has not yet become a habit. The author advocates that children be encouraged to develop the reading habit in their home environment. This emphasis on the importance of reading for
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education surprised me, for it is easy to think of other, culturally more appropriate means of transferring knowledge. Given that the book offers several convincing case studies on the usefulness of the media in educational processes, the author could have paid more attention to this phenomenon and its future development in his concluding remarks, and less to policies designed to promote reading.
Andree Feillard, Islam et armee dans I'Indonesie contemporaine; Les pionniers de la tradition. Paris: Editions l'Harmattan, 1995, 379 pp. [Association Archipel, Cahier d'Archipel 28] ISBN 2.7384.3773.7. Price: FRF 220.-. NIELS MULDER It is well-nigh impossible to write realistically about the history of postindependence Indonesia without discussing the role of the armed forces at some point or other, and Feillard's insightful history of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) movement, from its origin up to the present, is no exception in this respect. The main title of the work, probably inspired by commercial considerations, is in fact misleading. It is the subtitle, which refers to those who promote the traditional Javanese way of practising Islam, that better reflects the contents. This book, in short, is about the NU, and clarifies the present position of that organisation in the complex sociopolitical context of Indonesia by considering its history more carefully than have previous publications. Many, often disparaging opinions about the NU have been volunteered by scholars who have merely scratched its surface. It is, therefore, to Feillard's credit that she has been among the first to penetrate its inner world, her research material comprising NU archival resources, thirty years of press reports, participant observation at major NU gatherings, and a redoubtable quantity of interviews conducted with prominent NU leaders over the past ten years. Through her efforts she has been able to unlock the treasury of the inner discourse of the movement, and to present it on its own terms. The NU is not a monolithic party, but a loosely-structured league of Islamic teachers among whom many shades of opinion are always to be expected. It holds together the 'promoters of tradition', and constantly needs to clarify its position towards Indonesian politics, the army, the national ideology, the modernists, and the islamistes - a French word which I greatly prefer to the nebulous and ominous 'fundamentalists'. The ulama also need to play their part in envisaging the future of Islam, of the nation, and of the general religious revival which has now been under way for some twenty years. As in the past, controversial choices must be made,
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and it is the great credit of this study that the hows and whys of the NU's positioning and decision-making are revealed as eminently reasonable under the scrutiny to which the author subjects its leaders and the ideas they represent. Despite its continuing emphasis upon 'tradition', the metamorphoses of the NU since its inception should not be underestimated. In spite of a prolonged period of malaise (1973-87), the ideological positions represented by the movement have always been in a state of flux and have increasingly tended to incorporate modernity. In the process, apparently, the messages it sends have enjoyed a good reception even among urban audiences: the NU has become acceptable, and is pioneering its way into a future where its 'traditional' messages of religious tolerance, mysticism, the veneration of saints, and political accommodation, in conjunction with the democratic spirit of its secular leader, Abdurrahman Wahid, offer hope. Feillard's study is divided into four chronological sections: the history of the organisation up to 1965; its vicissitudinous relationships with the New Order up to 1973; the malaise; and the opening up to modernity, 1987-95. These are followed by a conclusion that captures the spirit of the NU as a middle way, inspired by nationalism, the wisdom of Islamization 'from below', and continuous reform. Appendices deal with the organization of the NU; the Indonesian political parties, and the biographies of the most prominent NU leaders. Lastly there is a glossary and eighteen pages of bibliography.
Cees Fasseur, Indischgasten. Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 1997, 313 pp. ISBN 90.351.1813.8. Prijs:/39.90. TESSEL POLLMANN 'De koloniale bestuursambtenaar Eduard Douwes Dekker, ons beter bekend onder zijn schrijversnaam Multatuli, heeft talrijke navolgers gehad, maar ook voorgangers'. Met deze zin begint Cees Fasseur hoofdstuk vier van zijn boek Indischgasten. Het is niet de eerste keer in dit boek dat Fasseur over Multatuli schrijft. Integendeel: zijn boek dat twaalf 'moeilijke' Nederlanders in de kolonie portretteert, opent ook met Multatuli: 'Om de Max Havelaar ten voile recht te doen, is een helder beeld van de Indische ambtelijke wereld waarvan Douwes Dekker zeventien jaar lang, van 1839 tot 1856, deel heeft uitgemaakt, onmisbaar'. De vraag is of iemand de Max Havelaar nog recht wil doen. Er is over het gelijk of ongelijk van Max Havelaar zoveel gepolemiseerd dat er een soort vermoeidheid is ontstaan, en daarmee het gevoel dat Multatuli toch een beetje een vervelende querulant was. Dat is natuurlijk onrechtvaardig: Multatuli was een ervaren ambtenaar die struikelde, en dat betreurde. Dat
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is een aspect waar we niet vaak over horen, maar in een terloopse opmerking maakt Fasseur er melding van: 'Meer dan dertig jaar na zijn aanstelling bij de Indische rekenkamer sprak hij er nog met genoegen over en droomde ervan. "Hij was daar van nacht weer jong en nog kommies", noteerde Mimi op 7 december 1872 in haar dagboek.' Het struikelen met fatale afloop was dus voor hem, zoals voor zovelen na hem, een tragische gebeurtenis: Multatuli als de teleurgestelde veteraan brengt hem dichter bij ons dan de vraag of hij gelijk had. En zoals hij waren er velen waar we weinig van weten en alles van willen weten; om ons tot lezen te stimuleren is een opening waarin Multatuli figureert, niet nodig. Ook de achterflap van Indischgasten doet het imago van Fasseurs boek weinig goed: het lijkt er op alsof we een serie portretten van vreemde, excentrieke mensen met een tic onder ogen krijgen. Niets is minder waar. Indischgasten bevat aan de hand van een aantal levensgeschiedenissen een beschrijving van de wijze waarop het leven er in met name de ambtenarij toeging en eigenlijk nog altijd toegaat. Fasseur weet daar veel van, uit eigen ervaring en door studie. Hij legt in zijn portretten de nadruk op persoonlijke verhoudingen als een factor die de doorslag geeft bij de vraag waarom de een kritisch is, of totaal niet deugt, en toch een glanzende loopbaan aflegt en de ander het aflegt tegen het gezag. Een goed voorbeeld van een functionaris met wie het slecht afliep waar het anderen lukte zich te handhaven, was Dirk van Hogendorp, de broer van Gijsbert Karel, die verdacht werd van knevelarij 'ten laste van de inheemsen en Chinezen, en van geldafpersing en tirannieke behandeling van Chinezen'. Die verdenking was niet ongegrond. Maar Van Hogendorp was de enige niet in zijn soort. Wei stond hij op zeer slechte voet met een lid van de Indische regering, de commissaris-generaal Nederburgh. Dat brak hem op. Op een overtuigende wijze schetst Fasseur hoe ambitieus en geldzuchtig Van Hogendorp was, en hoe volstrekt ondiplomatiek hij met deze veel voorkomende ondeugden omging. Dat nam mensen tegen hem in. Niet alleen gelijk of ongelijk telt; het is de toon die de muziek maakt. Dat is een van de hoofdthema's van Fasseur, en het is een mooi thema. Het is van belang in bijvooorbeeld het leven van de auteur Guillaume de Seriere, die van beroep predikant was, en eindigde als gouverneur van de Molukken, ver weg van het bestuurscentrum. De Seriere, auteur van het geschrift Mijne loopbaan in Indie, vond zichzelf een goed, doch gekrenkt functionaris. J.C. Baud, onder meer minister van kolonien, dacht er anders over. Hij komt in aanvaring met De Seriere als die voorstelt de kustplaats Cilacap te ontwikkelen tot de haven van de Javaanse zuidkust. Baud die, als vele anderen, altijd bang is voor Engelse militaire expedities, vreest dat zo'n haven voor de Engelsen een te aanlokkelijke tussenstop is om niet in bezit te willen nemen. Maar daarnaast vindt de gouverneur-generaal, en Baud die dan raadsman van de minister is, zal hem daarin zeker hebben gesteund, dat 'overdreven zucht tot nieuwigheden noodwendig de afkeuring van het opperbestuur en het moederland' ten gevolge zullen hebben, en dat
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wordt De Seriere dan ook voorgehouden. Daarbij komt dat De Seriere wel de productiecijfers in zijn residentie weet op te jagen, maar zijn administratieve werk verwaarloost. De genadeslag voor zijn reputatie komt als hij op verlof in Nederland schulden maakt: de schuldeisers reppen zich naar het departement waar Baud minister is. Alleen door tussenkomst van Willem II krijgt De Seriere nog een nette, maar weinig betekenende baan als gouverneur van de Molukken. Het zal tussen Baud en De Seriere nooit meer goedkomen. In de beschrijving van de gouverneur-generaal James Loudon is het diens ontzagwekkende deftigheid, met daarnaast een opvallend talent om vijanden te maken dat de toon van het relaas zet. Het levensverhaal van koning Otto (van Rees) die het van jongste bediende tot gouverneurgeneraal brengt en dan ten val komt als Keuchenius minister van kolonien wordt, is meer politiek gekleurd. Van Rees was niet vrij van ondeugden, zoals nepotisme en een voorliefde voor een flink inkomen. Maar hij was consequent in zijn strijd voor de belangen van inheemsen en daarmee trapte hij stevig op de tenen van twee Nederlandse landheren in Buitenzorg in een affaire die hem tenslotte ten val brengt. Op de achtergrond zijn er de echte problemen: de noodzaak tot bezuinigingen en dus de weigering een kostbare expeditie naar Aceh uit te zenden. Fasseurs portret van koning Otto is gebaseerd op een uitgebreide kennis van de werking van het bestuursapparaat, en niet minder op inzicht in de vraag wie wie was. Aceh, dat gebied waar zovele mensen maar ook zo vele reputaties sneuvelden, staat ook centraal bij de mislukking van 'modelambtenaar' en regeringscommissaris F.N. Nieuwenhuijzen die door Loudon belast werd met een militaire en diplomatieke missie naar het gebied. Nieuwenhuijzens missie mislukt en als dan de schuldvraag aan de orde komt, legt de regeringscommissaris het af. Hij wordt de laan uitgestuurd, met het comfortabele pensioen van f 12.000 per jaar. Het is een ongelukkige afloop van een zaak die nog een goede wending had kunnen nemen als Nieuwenhuijzens secretaris minder loslippig was geweest. Ook hier zijn het dus persoonlijke trekjes van mensen die de doorslag geven. Fasseurs studie is echter geen studie van persoonlijkheidsstructuren; dominant in zijn betoog is de beschrijving van verhoudingen in het bestuurlijke leven in het algemeen, en die tussen militair en burgerbestuurder in het bijzonder. Die beschrijvingen zijn overtuigend door de kennis van en het inzicht in het leven van de bestuurder en de officier. Even overtuigend zijn de schetsen van de kibbelpartijen over ogenschijnlijk onbelangrijke zaken als het ontslag van de neef van een hoofdofficier, een roddelpartij aan de borreltafel of de vraag hoe de gezamenlijke gouvernante van de kinderen van twee families betaald moet worden als een van de twee betalende vaders afhaakt en zijn kinderen naar de nieuw opgerichte lagere school zendt. Dat zijn zaken waar men niet licht over moet denken! Fasseur schrijft er met smaak over, zoals de toon van zijn hele boek aanzet tot lezen. Maar boven
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al is zijn boek inzichtgevend: kijk, zo gaan de heren met elkaar om, denkt de lezer, terwijl hij de context waarin dat gebeurt spelenderwijs als een les in toch zeer ingewikkelde verhoudingen en situaties tot zich heeft genomen. Een speciale, helaas kleine, plaats in het boek neemt het genre van de 'regentenperkara' in: het is Eduard van Teijlingen, assistent-resident in Probolinggo die ontdekt dat de inheemse regent zich schuldig maakt aan allerlei wandaden. Het gouvernement stelt een onderzoek in en Van T.eijlingen trekt aan het kortste eind. De zaak-Van Teijlingen, net als de zaak-Lebak, 'kan alleen maar begrepen worden in samenhang met andere regentenperkara's uit die tijd', schrijft Fasseur. Voor regenten, en priyayi in het algemeen, 'waren de Nederlandse ambtenaren maar al te vaak pionnen in het machtsspel van inheemse hoofden door wie ze gevreesd maar tegelijk ook uitgelachen werden. [...] Achter de wereld van het Europese bestuur lag nog een andere wereld waarvan de Nederlandse bestuursambtenaren, en Multatuli is onder hen geen uitzondering, zich nauwelijks bewust waren. Een wereld die werd bepaald door etnische en sociale tegenstellingen, tussen Javanen en Madoerezen, tussen Soendanezen en Javanen, tussen hoofden van hoge en lagere geboorte; een wereld waarover een geheimzinnig net lag van activiteiten, geweven rond klagers en bestolenen, daders en politiespionnen. Een wereld waarin elke partij steun stond bij dat ogenschijnlijk zo almachtige, maar ook vaak zo onwetende en daardoor gemakkelijk te manipuleren Europese bestuur.' Zou Fasseurs volgende boek daar niet over moeten gaan? Het zou een logische stap zijn in een schrijverscarriere waarin steeds meer afstand wordt genomen van het Euro-centrische denken en waarin een langzame verschuiving naar genuanceerder standpunten de lezer aangenaam verrast.
P.J. Zoetmulder, Pantheism and Monism in Javanese Suluk Literature; Islamic and Indian Mysticism in an Indonesian Setting. Edited and translated by M.C. Ricklefs. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1995, xvii + 381 pp. [Translation Series 24]. ISBN 90. 6718.082.3. Price:/75.-. STUART ROBSON This is a translation and republication of P.J. Zoetmulder's Leiden doctoral dissertation Pantheisme en Monisme in de Javaansche SoeloekLitteratuur (N.B. not literatuur as printed) of 1935. It seems logical to review it firstly with regard to content and secondly its new form. The work consists of twelve chapters, not including an Introduction and a Conclusion. The Introduction is very brief, and provides an overview of
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the study. Chapter I gives a 'Definition of the Concepts of Pantheism and Monism', Chapter II discusses 'Pantheism and Monism in Islam', and Chapter III 'Hindu Pantheism and Monism; Magic and Pantheism'. The remaining chapters then turn to the Javanese literature, in order to extract the various forms of doctrine found there, and the brief (two and a bit pages) Conclusion closes the study. There are two problems with this structure, a structure which may have been acceptable in its original setting in 1935, but would be questioned today. The first of these is the fact that it takes as point of departure the concepts of 'pantheism' and 'monism' as found in Western philosophy, finds these in the writings of Al-Ghazzali, Al-Hallaj and Ibn al-'Arabi on the one hand and the Upanisads, Sankara, and Ramanuja on the other, and then proceeds to trace them in Javanese sources. This seems to be standing the priorities on their head; if we are really interested in what the Javanese thinkers had to say, why not begin with their writings, analyse their main ideas, and then trace these to whatever sources that may be relevant, bearing in mind the historical and cultural influences that may have operated at a given time? Associated with this is a lack of attention to defining, describing and justifying the sources. What is the suluk literature, where/when/why was it written, and how extensive is it? The only clue is buried in the Conclusion, where the sources 'which provided most of the material used here' are 'Centini and the suluk collections in Leiden University Library Cod. 1795 and Cod. 1796' (p. 309). Zoetmulder is of the opinion that 'it is precisely in these works that we find what is most representative of the best of Javanese mysticism. [...] Moreover, the volumes employed here contain a quite complete collection of suluks. Comparing them with very many other texts of a similar character persuaded us that the latter had little or nothing to add to our main sources. So it seemed justified to restrict this study to Centini, Cod. 1795 and Cod. 1796, yet to speak of a study of suluk literature in general.' (p. 309.) But this is surely insufficient as serious argumentation. The bulk of the book (pp. 81-308) consists of an analysis of passages selected from the above sources to illustrate different emphases in doctrine, for instance: 'The Emanation Doctrine of the Seven Martabats' (Chapter V), 'Ambivalence About the Unity of God and Mankind' (Chapter VI), and so on. The Javanese passages are cited in extenso, and then translated. This represents one of the strengths of the study, as we can see exactly what the text says and how it has been interpreted, clearly a task requiring an excellent knowledge of both Javanese and philosophy. There are also notes of a philological nature on obscure places in the texts. A problem with this method, however, is that one does not get a feeling for context, how the passages concerned might relate to any larger whole or how the
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various themes are integrated with each other. The sululcs are a religious literature, yet they are not identical with orthodox Islam (for a discussion of the term, see G.W.J. Drewes's article 'Wat valt er te verstaan onder het Javaanse woord sulukT in this journal, vol. 148-1 (1992), pp. 22-30). Indeed Zoetmulder seems to adopt the position that Javanese mysticism is an independent product: '[...] the influence of Islam and Hinduism may be strong [...] Yet repeatedly we see evidence that this is no mere unreflective repetition, that there is something deeper than one might suspect from a superficial acquaintance with these sometimes obscure poetic texts [...]' (p. 310). For us it is precisely the originality of the Javanese poems that is interesting, and that is amply expounded by Zoetmulder, for example in his 'Wayang and Topeng Analogies' (Chapter X). Moving to the other aspect of the book, it is true that the original Dutch text was extremely rare (and expensive, indeed the present price is little better) and was little known, even among experts. An Indonesian translation was made by Fr Dick Hartoko, under the title Manunggaling Kawula Gusti; Pantheisme dan Monisme dalam Sastra Suluk Jawa (1990). Professor Ricklefs felt that there was a great need for an English version, so we should be grateful to him for the expertise, time and effort that he has devoted to editing and translating Zoetmulder's dissertation, obviously a labour of love. The Dutch style of the original was complicated, and the subject-matter often technical, but the result is accessible and readable. Ricklefs has also added some valuable notes on Zoetmulder's life in his 'Translator's Introduction'. One cannot help being somewhat overawed by the breadth of Zoetmulder's scholarship and the scale of his achievement as revealed here. However, it is to be hoped that others, of a younger generation, will not be deterred from taking his study as a starting-point, testing its insights, and then going on to explore the mystical literature of Java anew.
